Leadership top priority for Thai companies: Deloitte survey

This is according to this year’s Southeast Asia edition of Deloitte’s annual human capital trends report titled “The new organisation: Different by design”.

In Thailand, 100 per cent of respondents indicated that leadership was their key priority, compared to 89 per cent globally and 97 per cent for Southeast Asia.

Surprisingly, in spite of its importance, there is a wide capability gap where leadership matters are concerned, with 63 per cent of those surveyed indicating that they are not equipped or ready to tackle the issue of leadership within their organisation. 

This gap has widened since 2015, increasing by 22 per cent last year’s 41 per cent.

Deloitte said the result was indicative of the current volatile business environment. Even though business leaders recognise the trends as important, they have been forced to focus more on matters pertaining to improving shareholder value rather than human capital and talent issues, said the New York-based multinational professional services firm. 

“Leadership has been a perennial challenge for organisations operating in Southeast Asia,” said Nicky Wakefield, human capital leader for Deloitte Southeast Asia. “Business and HR [human resource] leaders are still trying to develop a comprehensive culture around leadership and ensure the longevity and relevancy of their leadership programme.

“Their challenge is compounded by the evolution leadership models – running faster on the traditional leadership development track will not solve this perennial challenge. Companies must make and sustain investments in identifying and nurturing leaders earlier in their careers.”

Deloitte said the urgency of organisational redesigns, while not as keenly felt in Southeast Asia as it was globally, was nonetheless beginning to take root as a top human capital issue, evident by it being in the top five issues despite being a new trend. 

Ninety-one per cent of business and HR leaders in Southeast Asia believe that this is a key issue, but 53 per cent feel that they are still not ready to address it.

 

Zooming in on Thailand

Kessara Sakmaneevongsa, a partner for consulting services and a human capital leader for Deloitte Thailand, revealed that compared to previous surveys leadership continued to be a pervasive concern and had grown in importance for respondents globally and in Southeast Asia. 

However, in spite of the importance of the issue, only 38 per cent of Thai respondents feel ready or very ready to tackle it.

“This suggests that there is a very strong demand in Thailand for people who can lead at all levels of the company,” Kessara said. 

“Organisations in this environment are coming to realise that they must identify potential leaders much earlier in their career and accelerate their movement up the leadership ranks through proper succession planning.”